Curtains!

Welcome to my newest followers, Andy and Raspberry! So glad you stopped by!

As you can see, today I made some curtains! It's my second attempt following the same instructions from Sue Heaser's book 'Dolls House Do-It-Yourself: Curtains' as the first time I used cotton fabric and it simply didn't fall right.

This time, I used beautiful dupion silk *apologies if it's spelt incorrectly* and they have hung perfectly. Don't you just love the green rod? haha. I didn't have any plain wood ones so my grandad kindly donated this one to me from his greenhouse supplies!

I'm going to make a matching pair for the other upstairs window and am planning to leave the bottom windows without curtains or blinds as most shops windows are bare (I think- please correct me otherwise!). I think for the top attic windows I shall make little curtains that just pull to the side rather than meet in the middle. I have tiny hoops left over from jewellery making which should come in useful for that! According to Sue Heaser's book, curtains in the Edwardian times were very plain (in style and print) so I thought this fabric would be perfect.

To make your own curtains:

Note...this will make curtains like mine :)

1. Measure the window and cut two pieces of fabric each as wide as the length of the window and the length of the drop required, plus 25mm (1inch). Ensure the fabric won't fray by running some PVA glue mixed with water along the material where you've cut it. Sew or glue a hem (I sewed) of 3mm along the sides of each curtain and a 13mm hem along the bottom edges.

2. Press down a 13mm hem at the top of each curtain. Sew a line of fine stitching 1.5mm from the raw edge of the hem. Place a skewer or dowelling in the resulting casing and push it against the stitching with the side of a ruler. Mark a line between the ruler and the skewer with the pencil. Remove the skewer and sew along the line to make a snug casing that fits the skewer.

3. Thread both curtains on to the skewer and push the sides of each together to gather them up to about one third of their original width.

4. The final stage involves starching the curtains and adding the finishing touches such as tiny little fimo clay knobs on both ends of the rod. I haven't done this section yet but I will.

^^ The above is taken from Sue Heaser's book as mentioned at the start of the post :)

I haven't done that little bit at the top of the curtains because I'd measured the drop incorrectly (typical of me, naturally) but I think they look ok like this!

Jess x


P.S The glue on the ivy did not work! Back to the drawing board!

A different kind of miniature!

Hello again!

Has anybody seen Angie Dudley's 'Cake Pops' book? I got mine at Christmas from Amazon.co.uk and it's fab!



The book is full of amazing things to bake and all very miniature, of course! Here's some examples of things I've made. (I didn't follow a project for these although were inspired by similar ones).



I made these ones for father's day and my dad loved them! The second cakes (below) were made for a birthday party:



Basically, you bake a standard cake and then once it's cooled, you crumble it into tiny pieces, like breadcrumbs. Then, it gets mixed with a frosting of your choice and it allows you to form little balls. They go in the freezer for 20 minutes to harden and then get dunked into melted chocolate. For the little cupcakes, I used a silicone mold with melted choccy (white, but dyed pink) and then once set, I peeled it away to leave a chocolate cake case! So everything you see is edible!

Sooo much fun! I can't recommend it enough (and I don't like cake!!!)

XXX

Made a start on the ivy!

Good afternoon, everyone! What a horrible, wet day it is here. To think, it's July!! Where's our summer?!

I made a start on the ivy and I'm pleased with the results. The lady from Templewood Miniatures sent me too different style ivys as she only had one pack of the original style and I ordered three. Although both are lovely, I think the newer style is more effective as ivy- the first looks more like a fern. This doesn't matter to me- my crumbling old house will have god knows what growing up the front so the more variation, the better I say!

Original Ivy:

For this ivy, you simply popped the whole piece out of the paper and glued the wire to it's back. I like it because you can't see the wire but the join where the second sheet of ivy meets is a little odd. I think I'm actually going to use some little leaves off the new ivy to disguise the join. Instead of using PVA glue, I used the glue spray left over from when I did the stencilling. I have no idea if it will work long term- but I will let you know!



New Ivy:

The newer type of ivy is very fiddly, as you can imagine! I do like the way you can do your own thing with it, though. It definitely allows for more freedom with how you wish your ivy to look.

You have to leave them to dry flat which they're currently doing (fingers crossed the glue works!)

Jess x

So very busy!

Hello to all my new followers!

I've been sooo busy lately, I haven't had a moment to do anything moderately miniature related or to blog!

I just wanted to keep you up to date with the progress of the dolls that were going to be made by the lovely Julie of Bellabelle dolls. I'd been on the waiting list since about November 2009 and only paid my deposit. She emailed me this month to ask if I'd still like to go ahead but unfortunately, due to my approaching wedding, I decided that I really couldn't bring myself to spend £130 on two dolls. *My other half would be proud!* Julie was so lovely about it and since I'd been on the waiting list for so long, she assured me I could go to the front of the line if I'd like them done in the future (which no doubt I would 'cause she's amazing!).

I've had a lot of work on with the homeless young people I work with which is good because it keeps me busy until I start my third and final year of uni in October. More miniatures soon though, promise!

Ivy from Templewood Miniatures

I recently ordered some lovely little ivy DIY kits from Templewood Miniatures. It's the first time I've ordered from there and I must say, I was more than pleased with the service. The lady emailed me and said she was away so there would be a slight delay on my order (that was fine, and if I'm honest I don't think I'd have noticed because it came pretty soon anyway!). Unfortunately, the type of ivy I'd ordered wasn't available in two quantities so she sent me one type I'd ordered and two new ones (including a free one). This was totally fine by me- I don't mind if my ivy doesn't match! In fact, I think it adds to the authenticity of the whole thing! I will show you when I finally get a move on and do it...it looks fiddly but I've been assured it leaves fantastic results! The shop also stocks an ivy cutter which is definitely useful!

Until next time!

Miniature Skirting and a Celebration!

Taa-daa! Here's the skirting. I haven't stuck it down yet but you can get a good idea of what it will look like. Sorry about the picture quality- I will make sure a better one follows soon. Also, I managed to paint the ceiling without any bother! Luckily, this is the only room I've started to decorate so I painted all the other ceilings a bit more haphazardly.

There's a celebration in order! Myself and my other half have booked our wedding!! It's not until 2013 but it's on our 8th year anniversary so it will be super special :)

Jess x

Mouldings

Good morning curiosity shoppers!


I have just received some gorgeous mouldings in the post from a lovely ebay seller called littlegreenworkshop. They have excellent feedback and I must say that their prices are a lot cheaper than other leading dolls house suppliers. They also have a website where you can buy miniatures from which is www.littlegreenworkshop.co.uk. It's worth taking a look :)


I am going to post the pictures that they have used on Ebay because I couldn't do the mouldings justice on my little camera phone!


For the living room as pictured in the previous post, I have bought:



> Coving. Real wood, 18inches, £1.25 (!!)



> Dado rail. Real wood, 18inches, £1.20. Did you know that dado rails were invented to stop the backs of chairs from scuffing the wallpaper?





> And finally, skirting boards! Real wood, 18inches, £1.25!



Excellent prices and great delivery rates- I would recommend this seller! (I haven't been asked to, by the way! All opinions on here are totally mine! :D)

The 18inches of wood does mean, I'm afraid, that I'm going to be let loose with a hack saw....


More on this later!

Until next time,

Jess x